There are heaps of brilliant Fallout 4 mods that give Bethesda's 2015 RPG a new lease of life, and Missions Committee, a new mod out this month, sounds like it's another one worth considering. It's a mission generator that will periodically ping you with one of seven mission types, including target assassinations and base captures. 

Best of all, you can customise how often you want to receive missions, and if you want something immediately, you can request a specific type of mission on demand. The mission types sound suitably varied: you'll destroy artillery posts, perform stealthy recon strikes and defend bases against enemy forces. 

For each, you pick a faction to represent, and that faction will show up and watch your back. For capture missions, the results will persist in the world: if you capture a base for the Minutemen, for example, they'll stay in control until an enemy force tries to take it over again. You can choose between eight factions, and you can perform missions for custom factions you've added via other mods. 

You can tweak the frequency of missions through an in-game menu at any time, and you select the type of missions you'd like to receive on your scanner. You can even weight your preferences, receiving two base capture missions for every one defense mission, say.

The installation instructions, and steps for adding custom factions, are over on Nexus Mods. The mod's author, Sorrywerefull, suggests you try it alongside  Warlike , Fallout 4-76 and Camps of the Wasteland.   

Following the release of Fallout 76, we thought it was a good time to look back at the previous Fallout game: Fallout 4. The Fallout 4 map isn't as big as 76's, but it's still packed with interesting and memorable locations, many that are part of quests but a few that you'll just stumble across at random. Some of these great spots aren't even marked on your Fallout 4 map at all, which makes them even more intriguing.

Here are our favorite places on Fallout 4's map, in no particular order.

The Rocket Shed

There are bigger and more important locations in Fallout 4—and I'll get to them in a minute!—but I'm going to start with a simple yet great one.

In Fallout 4 the world has gone to hell, everything has been destroyed, and there are mutants and monsters and radiation everywhere. What's a survivor to do? Well, if someone had a little shed on a cliff and also had a bunch of gas tanks and a lot of free time on their hands, they could build a few ramps to launch those tanks. Just to do it. Just to let off some steam and see some explosions, because why the hell not? There's no law, no environmental concerns, no sound ordinances. Let's just blow some shit up for no reason, because reason died along with everything else when the bombs fell.

This shed near Relay Tower 0BB-915 is just that spot. It's unmarked on the map. It's  just there because it can be and, in the post-apocalypse, probably would be. Shoot the tanks and then watch them sail off the ramps and eventually explode. It's the end of the world, so why the hell not?

The USS Constitution

It's hard to miss this one: it's a massive three-masted frigate sitting on a building near Bunker Hill. The ship, built in the 1700s, is populated with friendly robots who are desperately trying to sail the Constitution again, which seems impossible since it's filled with holes. It does have, however, massive rocket engines, because this old ship sails a bit differently than she used to. 

By lending your repair skills and fighting off packs of ravenous raiders, you can make the robots' wishes come true and see the Constitution take to the skies—at least for a little while. The USS Constitution is one of the more memorable and surprising quests in the game, and its re-re-launching is a hell of a thing to witness. Plus, you can walk away with an awesome weapon when you've completed it: a hand-held cannon called the Broadsider.

The crashed UFO

Your encounter with a space traveler can begin randomly, and seemingly anywhere on the map once you're level 20 or higher: you'll hear and possibly see a ship passing overhead and then crashing in the distance. The UFO always crashes in the same spot, however, near Oberland Station. Prior to this event, there will be nothing at this location, but after the crash there will be the remains of an alien ship, some underground tunnels, and the pilot who is not quite dead and certainly not happy to meet you.

The Fallout series is no stranger to close encounters: an entire add-on for Fallout 3 took place aboard an alien spacecraft. While the UFO encounter in Fallout 4 is brief, it's still fun, a reminder that there aren't just violent assholes in the Commonwealth but among the stars, too. Plus, you walk away with a nifty alien blaster that can melt your enemies into ash.

Prost Bar

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. Prost Bar isn't that place because everybody is dead, but it's a pretty wonderful unmarked location if you watched TV in the 1980s (or if you watch '80s TV today). Prost Bar is a replica of the bar from the TV show Cheers, and the gang's all here if a wee-bit skeletonized. You'll find the corpses of Sam Malone, Cliff Claven, Norm (Norm!) and others at their usual spots. 

There are some baseball posters (and baseball grenades) in Sam's office, celebrating his once-promising ballplaying career. You'll even find the rarely-shown pool room in the back, and you can collect Cliff's postman hat and take it with you. Prost, by the way, means "Cheers" in German.

The Yangtze-31

The Constitution isn't the only interesting ship in Fallout 4: there's also a Chinese ballistic submarine in the waters south of Boston airport. During the Great War is launched its nukes at the US but then struck a mine, ultimately stranding it in Boston Harbor. As happens with radiation, some of the crew is still ghoulishly alive even 200 years later.

The sub is a really cool thing to come across and explore both inside and out, and in addition to a sweet sword you can acquire from the sub's ancient Captain Zao, you can also walk away with a few homing beacons—useful if you want Zao to launch a few nukes on your behalf.

Cabot House

What's this? A mansion that's somehow not filled with skeletons and rotting wood and garbage and monsters? It's terrible to say, but nothing sets off warning bells (and security bots) like a clean, tastefully decorated and completely intact dwelling in the post-apocalypse. When nothing seems to be wrong it's a good indication that something is definitely wrong.

And yes, there's some weird and far-out shit going on with the Cabots and their house, including alien artifacts, a 400-year-old man, and a pretty tricky choice you have to make that may result in the downfall of the entire family.

Hallucigen, Inc.

As a Vault Dweller you've been subjected to an unethical experiment without your consent, so maybe you'd enjoy doing the same to others? If you visit Hallucigen, Inc, a chemical testing facility, you'll get your chance. There's been a gas leak that's driven all the NPCs into a murderous frenzy, but if you survive long enough to reach top floor you'll find a special room and an invitation to test out some new products.

A control panel will let you push buttons, releasing experimental gases into a number of rooms below that are filled with trapped Gunners. It's a bit cruel, sure. But isn't it nice to be the one pushing all the buttons for a change?

Hubris Comics

This appears to be just a four-story building filled with ghouls, but it contains something very special. It's part of a quest that introduces you to The Silver Shroud, a fictional pre-war costumed crime-fighter. Listening to recordings of the Shroud's radio show will lead you to Hubris Comics where you can find The Silver Shroud's costume (a trench coat and hat) and a prop of his iconic submachine gun (which you can later exchange for a working one). There's also a number of comic books you can collect, but the real treat here is all the Silver Shroud gear.

Fully upgraded, the Silver Shroud costume will buff agility and perception, plus it just looks really cool and other NPCs will sometimes comment on it. Even better, when encountering the goofy 'supervillains' in Fallout 4, they'll have some unique lines of dialogue if you're dressed as the Shroud when you meet them.

Milton Parking Garage

Sometimes the best locations don't even show up on your map. The Milton Parking Garage is one such spot, though it's still hard to miss thanks to all the helpful arrows painted at the entrance, pointing you toward the front door. Hm, nothing suspicious about that, is there?

Inside you'll discover the garage has been transformed into a deadly maze full of traps and puzzles, plus the remains of other unfortunate wanderers who were lured inside to perish. If you solve and survive the maze you'll be able to reach the top floor, where you'll find two prison cells each containing some sweet loot. Is there a final trap? You bet there is. Who designed this nefarious house of horrors? We still don't know.

Old Gullet Sinkhole

It's not easy making friends in Fallout 4. After a few weeks in the Commonwealth any trust you might have for man, woman, and beast is sure to have been chipped away by thousands of bullets, bludgeons, and bite-marks. But it doesn't hurt to hold your fire in Old Gullet Sinkhole because it's home to a friendly (or at least indifferent) deathclaw.

The Sinkhole is basically a crater, the remains of a town swallowed up by the earth. There are caverns to explore and loot, but the highlight is an oddly pacified deathclaw. If you don't attack it, it won't attack you. It'll just sit there watching as you go about your business (seriously, its head will turn and it'll keep its eyes on you at all times). If any other creatures wander nearby, the deathclaw will leap into action, but only to kill them, never you. It's probably just an unfixed bug, but who cares? It's always nice to have a friend.

Update: The deal has now expired.

Original story:

Fallout 4 is currently five bucks on Amazon Australia at the moment – which is pretty bloody cheap. It's unclear how long the deal will last, and if you're not a Prime subscriber you'll need to pay postage, but even then it'll likely come in at a tiny bit over ten bucks.

The deal is here, and if you're still in the mood for picking up some dirt cheap games, Steam is currently running a sale on all Game Awards nominated titles for, presumably, the weekend. You can check that out here.

Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.  

When I want to take nice screenshots in Fallout 4 I use console cheats: tfc to enable the freecam and tm to hide the UI. But modder extraordinaire registrator2000 is working on a far more elegant solution, a lovely photo mode for Fallout 4 based on the one from Fallout 76.

The mod isn't available for download yet, but it even the little bit we can currently see looks fantastic. Here's a quick video of the work-in-progress:

As you can see, the attractive little options menu lets you set the field of view and roll the camera side to side, just like in Fallout 76's photomode, and there are also a few sliders to adjust the depth of field. The menu appears to have a character tab, too, which I'm sincerely hoping means we'll be able to choose from a few poses when our character is in frame. (Pretty please?) Another tab shows a clock, so maybe we'll be able to adjust the time of day as well, and there's also a tab that looks like it might let you use filters or photoframes.

I realize I'm speculating wildly, but Registrator2000 is a fantastic modder—just see their mod for Fallout 76 that greatly improves inventory management—so I can't wait to see the finished product of this awesome-looking photomode in Fallout 4.

Thanks, comicbook.com.

Prolific Fallout modder registrator2000—who this week released the first must-have Fallout 76 mod—is working on a fully-fledged photo mode for Fallout 4.

The work-in-progress mod will be accessible through both the pause menu and a hotkey, and it'll come with all the options you'd want in a photo mode: field of view, view roll, depth of field tweaks, saturation, contrast, colour tints, and more.

You'll be able to change everything in an easy-to-navigate pop up menu as you line up your shot, as seen in the image at the top of this post. You can see more images on the mod's Nexus page, but you'll need to sign in to your Nexus account first.

Fallout 4 never had a photo mode, but you can fudge one by using various console commands—this will make it much easier. Modder registrator2000 does great work, and has 24 Fallout 4 mods, so I have high hopes for this. 

Here's a video of an older build of the mod in action:

If you're interested, here's Chris's list of the best mods for Fallout 4.

Fallout 4's irradiated Boston Commonwealth is terrifying all year round. Take the edge off this Halloween with a selection of seasonal tunes, courtesy of Natezomby's Spooky Scary Radio mod. 

With a host of Halloween-themed songs (Monster Mash, Zombie Jamboree, Haunted Heart), movie trailers (The Mummy, The Exorcist, Frankenstein), poem readings (Poe's Raven, read by Vincent Price), and short story recitals, Spooky Scary Radio spans over 150 tracks, and has more on the way. Read the (tentative) list in full here. 

Here's a teaser:

In-keeping with the modern Fallout series' penchant for retro music, creator Natezomby says their selection here reflects Fallout 4's lore. Don't expect songs like Thriller, then.    

"Do you hear that xylophone?" asks Natezomby on the mod's Nexus Mods page. "Feel the autumn chill in the air? Smell the pumpkin spice? Well, I guess that means that it's almost Halloween as I write this—my favorite time of the year! Better blast some bone-chilling bangers and bomb some bandits with big booms in Fallout, bud. I have just the thing. 

"Please, follow me into my lab, I've been working on something. Hours and hours of curating the necessary parts, clipping, trimming, and stitching has all lead up to this. Go ahead, get closer... Lift the sheet, and reveal—Spooky Scary Radio." 

Details on how to get Spooky Scary Radio direct to your Pip-Boy can be found this way. 

Fallout: Sakhalin is an ambitious Fallout 4 mod that adds a new island, with new interiors, quests, factions and monsters. 

Inspired by New Vegas's DLC and GSC Game World's Stalker, Sakhalin Island is set within an alternate Fallout universe future, whereby remnants of Communist China, The USSR, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany seek treasures on the eponymous archipelago.

The following teaser features communist propaganda posters, Stalin portraits, Nazi symbols, and rising sun flags among other tone-setting props.

"This moody horror based Fallout mod will take you through a hand crafted adventure on an island filled with conflict and intrigue," explains co-creator Nowsky on the project's Nexus Mods page. "Fight back against your enemies and perhaps put an end to this everlasting conflict. If you liked the New Vegas DLC, The Divide or the atmospheric environments of S.T.A.L.K.E.R You will be right at home here."

The creator adds that the mod's team is keeping some things up their sleeves for now, which will be introduced once ready. Nowsky et al are also responsible for Skyrim's Gothic Orpheus Project. 

More information on Fallout: Sakhalin lives here. Once installed, head here on the world map to activate it: 

Here's some more screens: 

The best Fallout 4 mods let you customise the wasteland. Be that through settlements and crafting, visual improvements and weather, or new locations and adventures there's pretty much something for everyone. With 510 lines of dialogue and four sing-a-longs, Kilosandwich's Echo transforms the Boston Commonwealth into musical about employment. I've no idea which category that best fits. 

I do however know we should expect one fully-voiced quest that last two hours and contains multiple endings, a plethora of puzzles, and "oodles of player choice". With music from Bing Crosby, Leonard Warren, Pat and Shirley Boone and a number of other 20th century crooners, Echo also invites players to "embark on a quest to discover the cause of a raft of disappearances, and find yourself swept up into an exciting and musical journey."

Within, you might achieve "personal growth and enrichment", posits Kilosandwich on the project's Nexus Mods page, which is where the creator also outlines the hows and wheres of activating Echo. 

"The narrative of this mod is built for a solo experience," Kilosandwich adds. "As such, you should dismiss your companion before embarking on it—if you should choose not to do so, the mod will dismiss your companion for you back to their last place of recruitment (the settlement last assigned, or their initial place of recruitment) upon entering the Dartmouth Professional Building."

And as if that all wasn't out there enough, the Q&A at the foot of this page talks about drugged wine, waking up on roofs and taking "dynamic naps" that could cost you your job. The images featured there don't exactly scream whimsical musical about sound work ethic, but I do like this pink flamingo. I hope it sings, too. 

Fallout 4: New Vegas is a mod that aims to recreate New Vegas in the Fallout 4 Creation Engine, as the name suggests. Back in March the mod team decided to expand their work to also include all-new voice acting, in response to the Fallout 4: Capital Wasteland mod project being canceled after its creators had discussions with Bethesda about whether they'd be able to use Fallout 3's audio.

Fallout 4: New Vegas has carried on, and now you can see some of that pay off. The video above shows the start of the game, in which Doc Mitchell (played by a new voice actor) wakes you up and guides you through customizing your protagonist. It's not the best part of New Vegas to be honest, but it does show us what to expect from the new character models. 

There are some new animations and sounds during trait and skill selection, but otherwise it seems a lot like the familiar New Vegas experience. The only thing missing is the pop-up telling you the DLC has been loaded.

You can follow the mod's development on Facebook.

The Fallout Miami mod brings sun, sea and sand to the post-apocalypse. Its latest update explores its story beginnings, and one of its main joinable factions—The Enclave. 

By following the tale of mod protagonist the Sole Survivor, Fallout Miami takes place in late 2287, ten years after the Battle of Raven Rock. The project's latest blog post explains that two years before the fall of Raven Rock, The Enclave sent a team to Miami Beach to establish a stronghold. Communications were ultimately lost, and thus begins The Enclave's involvement with the player in The Magic City. 

The following armoured Enclave vehicle cannot be driven, sadly, but it looks cool nonetheless. 

The blog post then turns its attention to Colonel Magnus, whose concept art comes courtesy of project member Qsy. 

"The burden of command is a heavy one, even for an experienced officer," says the post. "The rock-solid image of the dependable commander is just as often a facade as it is a foundation. In the case of Colonel Magnus—it’s a little bit of both. 

"Driven, loyal to the cause, able, and stretched thin as a rail, he does everything he can to keep his ship on course. The responsibilities are many, the quiet moments few, and he has to somehow find time not only to command this operation but to also be a father. Getting some sleep wouldn’t be bad either."

Captain Killian Beckett, we're told, is an Enclave companion. 

"Let me ask you this—what happens when a man loses everything except his mission?" asks the blog. "Family, loved ones, certainty in what tomorrow will bring? He has a choice—lose himself in his purpose or hold on to the hope of a brighter future and just work towards it. Captain Beckett took the latter path. A model soldier and citizen in many ways, Killian just tries to do his job as best he can. 

"Although he might not always agree with his orders or the way the Enclave intend to achieve their ultimate goal, he remains loyal and believes in the dream of rebuilding the United States of America. He doesn’t let the bitterness and doubts get to him; a cold beer, someone to talk to, and clear objectives are all he needs."

Beckett's concept art is by team member CynicalBounce.

More information on that and more lives on Fallout Miami's site.